WBU wins in 5, secures nationals bid

Box Score It was a five-set fight to the finish in Hutcherson Center on Friday night, and in the end Wayland Baptist was the team still standing.
 
"It was a knock-down, drag-out tonight," Wayland coach Jim Giacomazzi said.
 
In a back-and-forth battle in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals, the Pioneers built a 2-0 lead only to see Texas Wesleyan rally and force a fifth. The final set was just as back-and-forth as the rest of the match, with both teams facing big match points.
 
Finally, Wayland prevailed, 25-19, 25-16, 23-25, 20-25, 17-15, earning the right to play for the conference tournament championship against No. 12 Oklahoma City at 11 a.m. Saturday and, more importantly, securing another trip to the NAIA National Championship since the SAC is granted two automatic berths.
 
"This is probably the most challenging year to get there because of so many new players on the team who needed to learn the difference between high school and college and assimilate into the program with the offense and defense we need to run," Giacomazzi said after the Pioneers qualified for nationals for the fourth year in a row.
 
Texas Wesleyan didn't make it easy, however.
 
Second-seeded Wayland (24-14), which lost to Wesleyan in three in the regular-season finale just six days earlier on the same floor, came out confident and determined, even after the Lady Rams (28-5) led most of the first set. Wesleyan was up by as many as four and was ahead 18-17 when Wayland went on a set-ending 8-2 run to win it 25-19.
 
The second set was all WBU early as the Pioneers sprinted to a 12-2 lead and eventually took it with relative ease, 25-16.
 
Nothing was easy after that, however.
 
The Lady Rams owned an 18-7 advantage in the third, but the Pioneers still seemed determined to end the match in three. They almost did, eventually tying the score at 23-all before Wesleyan came up with a couple of clutch kills to close it out, 25-23.
 
"They're a good team," Giacomazzi said. "They were not going to roll over and die. They showed a lot of character and determination and guts to make it go five sets."
Set four was one of runs with each team taking a turn running off points in mini-bunches. The Lady Rams wound up running off a few more and won, 25-20, to force Wayland to only its fourth fifth set of the season.
 
The Pioneers clung to an 8-7 lead at the side switch, but the Lady Rams won three in a row after that to take a 10-8 edge. WBU answered with four straight points, including kills by Megan Sharratt and a blast by Alex Wood to take its own two-point lead, 12-10.
 
By then, the Hutcherson Center crowd was on its feet.
 
Wesleyan came out of a timeout and promptly tied it with a kill and an ace. But Wood came up with another kill before an attack error on the Lady Rams gave Wayland its first match point, 14-12.
 
The Lady Rams not only fought off the match point but won two others on kills to post their only match point.
 
A clutch kill by Mallorie Ellis gave Wayland the serve, at which point Pioneer Katie Inman, unable to endure pain from previous injuries, was forced to the bench. Sadie Staton took her place and went to the service line with the match knotted at 15.
 
Staton came through, as did Ellis and Jessica Stohlmann who teamed for block before Stohlmann ended it with a kill, assisted by Riyana Rakrouki.
 
"It's exciting to see matches like that where everybody is fighting hard the whole time," Giacomazzi said. "To see our athletes go out there with passion and enthusiasm and play hard until the final whistle blows… Both teams showed a lot of determination this evening."
 
Giacomazzi couldn't say enough about his team's effort.
 
"What a wonderful, courageous night for Mallorie. She's been hurting with knots in her back, her feet are tired."
 
Ellis ended with 13 kills, a season-high 23 digs and two blocks.
 
"And what a great night for Jessica. She gets the courage award for the season since she's been playing with painful knees all year."
 
Stohlmann wound up with 10 kills and five block-assists.
 
Sharratt, meanwhile, led the team with a season-high 19 kills while hitting .298. 
 
"Megan had a great series in the second set to give us a big lead, and she had a couple of big digs," Giacomazzi said.
 
Wood, still recovering from a shoulder injury, recorded 13 kills.
 
"Her arm's been hanging," Giacomazzi said.
 
As a team, Wayland tallied 62 kills.
 
"We told them before the match, 'tipping the ball will not win.' We had to swing and hit the ball, and we did that enough to win," Giacomazzi said. "Our serve-receive could be a little bit better, but the last set when we needed it we had a 62 percent serve-receive. We had 11 kills and they had six hitting errors, so that was our 17 points. We also had some key blocks on them."
 
The coach also credited Rakrouki, who produced 49 assists, a season-best, and 10 digs, plus one solo and two block-assists.
 
"Riyana did a great job," Giacomazzi said.
 
SAC Libero of the Year Rossanna Ramos, meanwhile, played incredibly throughout the match and, like many of her teammates, fought through an injury she suffered in the third set to end with 35 digs, tying her second-best effort of the season.
 
"I can never say enough about Rossanna," Giacomazzi said. "She made some great defensive plays in awkward positions and just did a fantastic job. She got banged up in the third set, but she's a fighter and said, 'This is not going to be my last match.'"
 
The coach also praised Staton for entering the match near the end of the fifth when Inman couldn't go any more.
 
"Talk about a pressure situation. For her to come in and serve us on home was fantastic. I'm thrilled for her."
 
Jordan Breding ended with 12 digs, giving the Pioneers five with double digits in that category. WBU produced a season-high 101 scoops; Wesleyan had 106.
 
"What a great team effort," Giacomazzi said.
 
The Pioneers also recorded 11 blocks, another season-best.
 
Giacomazzi said the Pioneers adjusted their play against Wesleyan big hitters Brianna Jaramillo and Shelby Stinnett.
 
"We made the adjustments enough to stop No. 9 and 21, and that was the difference, especially in the fifth set," he said. "We hit the right zones in our serve tonight pretty much more than we have the rest of the year. That caused enough problems that they couldn't go to their big girls.
 
"(Stinnett, who had 23 kills) is a great player. To slow a player like that down helps create the momentum we need on our side.
 
"Our goal was to not let them score more than three points in a row. We wanted to have a sense of urgency to get the ball back and serve, and I think they understood that tonight and how important it is to get an immediate side-out."
 
Wayland now anticipates playing its first-round match in the NAIA National Championships Nov. 19, either hosting again or going to the campus of an opponent.
 
"We want to see how far we can go. The last couple of years have been a little disappointing losing in the first round, so we want to change that and see how far we can go," Giacomazzi said.
 
First, though, the Pioneers take on an Oklahoma City team that defeated fourth-seeded John Brown on Friday afternoon, 25-12, 21-25, 25-23, 25-21. The Stars (29-3), who finished 18-0 in the conference regular season, struggled at times but still managed to post their 21^st straight win.
 
Giacomazzi knows the Pioneers are beat up and tired, but they'll do their best Saturday against OCU.
 
"This part of the season is the icing on the cake. This is the fun part."